Behind the scenes of Iraq war

Despite the subsequent mess in Iraq, in April 2003, it appeared that the military campaign to topple Saddam Hussein was one-two-three easy. But it wasn’t.

“Beyond Top Secret,” a History Channel documentary set for broadcast tonight, details the successful last-minute missions to keep Hussein from firing scud missiles at Israel and prevent a repeat of the 1991 destruction of the oil fields. If either had failed, things would be even messier.

Also offered are the stories of two unsuccessful attempts to kill Hussein before the war began. In the end, he was a step ahead of the CIA’s effort to recruit spies in his inner circle. The failed attempts led him to identify the turncoat in his midst, with deadly results.

Along with re-creations and combat footage, “Beyond Top Secret” has rounded up an impressive list of interview subjects with firsthand knowledge of the war planning and execution. Included are journalist Bob Woodward and historian Bing West. Call them Mr. Inside and Mr. Outside of the Iraq war.

Woodward is nonpareil on what was being said in the corridors of power in Washington, and West has few peers in describing what the war looked like from ground level with the fighting forces.

“Beyond Top Secret,” the work of producer Peter W. Klein, formerly of ABC News and CBS’ “60 Minutes,” also has footage of Hussein cheerily conversing with his top lieutenants in the days before the assault began. The picture of a madman testing a slingslot and other low-tech weaponry is beyond creepy.

The documentary suggests that even as the U.S.-led coalition was inching toward an assault in March of 2003, Hussein was more worried about a Shiite uprising and thus refused his generals’ plea to demolish the bridges over the Tigris River to slow the invaders.

Hussein thought the bridges would be needed to send his forces toward the Shiites. Instead coalition troops used the bridges to race toward the heart of the Baghdad regime.

“Beyond Top Secret” notes that the failure to kill Hussein presaged a bigger problem to come: the inability to get decent intelligence, to figure out how Iraqis were likely to react to Americans. Among other miscues, the U.S. failed to see a gathering insurgency.

“Intelligence gathering is very much like forecasting the weather,” said Marc Garlasco, one of the program’s experts. “The main difference is that if you get the weather wrong, people get rained on.

“When you get the intelligence wrong, people die.”

tony.perry@latimes.com

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‘Beyond Top Secret’

Where: The History Channel

When: 11 tonight

Rating: TV-PG (may be unsuitable for young children)